Back Home (novel)
| Author | Michelle Magorian |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's historical novel |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
Publication date | 1984 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 384 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | 978-0-06-024103-2 |
| OCLC | 10998796 |
| LC Class | PZ7.M275 Bac 1984 |
Back Home is a children's historical novel by Michelle Magorian, first published in 1984. The novel was adapted into a TV drama, Back Home (1990), starring Hayley Mills and Haley Carr, and again in 2001 starring Sarah Lancashire, Stephanie Cole and Jessica Fox.
Plot summary
Virginia 'Rusty' Dickinson is the main protagonist of the novel. The story centres on her return to England in 1945 from Connecticut, where she was sent as a child evacuee (aged 7) in 1939, when the war broke out.
Virginia left England as a timid and shy seven-year-old and has returned as an energetic and verbose 12-year-old. Much to her disappointment, Rusty finds England hidebound, run-down, boring and totally devoid of any decent food. Her mother, Peggy, is an awkward woman who, all her life, had been dominated by her parents, husband and mother-in-law. During the war, Peggy came out of her shell and became a skilled car mechanic. She is stiff and hurt when the Americanised Virginia returns home, having imagined her as still a little girl. Meanwhile, Rusty finds Peggy standoffish and cold, and harbours some resentment towards her for having sent her overseas in the first place.
However, Rusty does initially have one ally - the kindly and eccentric Beattie Langley, in whose Devon home her mother and brother have been staying throughout the war, before they return to the family home (Rusty and Charlie's grandmother's house) in Guildford. Beattie tries to explain to Rusty how Peggy has longed for her return and how much she has missed her, while advising Peggy to understand that Rusty has grown up and developed new skills which should be encouraged.
Rusty is initially rejected by her toddler brother, Charlie, who was born after she had been sent to America. She is baffled by the range and scale of rationing, rules she is not used to, and the people around her, and longs to return to her host family in Connecticut. Rusty struggles at first, often getting into arguments with Peggy, although Beattie helps her find a friend in local schoolgirl Beth. Her mother does not approve, as Beth swears, and the nearby school is considered strange as the children are happy whereas, Rusty notes, the English would prefer their children to study hard and have an unhappy school experience.
Soon after the War with Japan is officially over, Rusty with her mother and brother move out of Devon and live with Rusty's paternal grandmother in Guildford. It is an uncomfortable stay there, as the grandmother does not approve of Peggy or her children. She believes Charlie is weak and should act like a big boy (he has changed from being cheeky and lively in Devon to being withdrawn and stuck to Peggy, and takes his teddy everywhere with him) and finds Rusty/Virginia too American. Rusty also talks back to her grandmother, who has a more 'Victorian' approach to raising children, as Peggy puts it.
At her grandmother's will, Rusty is sent to a strict boarding school, where owing to her accent/slang and American approach, she is unpopular and earns many 'order marks' and even a 'discipline mark' as she spoke to a boy who she found out was also evacuated to New England. The American curriculum was very different from the English and so Rusty is considered behind in many subjects, even history, which she adores. She is also told off for being loud, affected and rude when she means only to be enthusiastic, friendly and forthright. The only good marks she would get were in Art, Greek dancing, Gymnastics, and Singing; those privileges were soon taken away from her for she needed 'extra' Latin and Maths lessons.
At first, Rusty is sent home every weekend, except one, when Peggy is in Devon, where Beattie sadly dies. However, knowing she was about to die, Beattie made Rusty promise she would spend half term at the house in Devon with her mother. At school she is constantly cold and is denied an extra blanket, a hot water bottle - rubber is in very short supply - or the window in her dorm being closed at night. Rusty starts sleepwalking and is so miserable, lonely and depressed that she decides to kill herself by jumping off the scaffolding set up outside while repairs are made to the brickwork. While she is preparing to jump she remembers the promise she made to Beattie to go to Devon at half term no matter what. Climbing down four storeys, she crosses the playing fields to discover a "cabin in the woods", a small abandoned house, which she decides will be a hideout. Leaving a note for the other American evacuee, she and he meet up at the cabin in the night and talk, giving both lonely children an opportunity for friendship.
During Rusty's first half term, she goes to the reading of Beattie's will in Devon with her mother. Beattie leaves Rusty all her carpentry tools because of an earlier incident where Rusty shows she is very gifted with woodwork and other arts and crafts (Rusty often remembers 'back home' in Connecticut staying with Aunt Hannah and Uncle Bruno who helped her develop her love of art and stencilling) and - to most people's shock - Beattie leaves Peggy the house on the condition she cannot sell it for at least 17 years and it must always remain in her name or, if she decides to sell, a younger woman's name (presumably she means Rusty). Peggy realises right away that Beattie arranged this to stop Peggy's husband and mother-in-law from persuading her to put the house into her husband's name.
After her small holiday in Devon, Rusty's father, Roger, returns from his service overseas. He turns out to have the same views on children as his strict mother (Rusty and Charlie's grandmother) and has little experience of children.
Charlie, who is steadily growing to like Rusty as compared to their grandmother (she seems much more pleasant), does not like his father and believes that 'Uncle Harvey' (whom we never meet, but was Peggy's 'friend' during the War; there are doubts from Rusty whether her Mother was only just his friend at certain points of the book) is his real father as he was told his real father would play with him, which Roger does not. One day, when Peggy is called away because a friend from Devon has problems, Rusty is left looking after Charlie. Rusty's grandmother asks her if she would like to get dressed in nicer clothes than her jeans and have tea with her and her friend. Rusty agrees but, coming down, she is curious where Charlie is, and is told he was taken for a treat by their Father. Rusty is a bit uncertain as she spots his teddy on the floor and Charlie never goes anywhere without it.
At one point during the tea, her father and Charlie return home. Charlie is in tears and sobbing for his Mummy. Roger forced him to have a haircut as he believed Charlie's long red hair did not make him look like a boy. Charlie's curls are now a shaved head and Charlie himself is utterly traumatised from being held down into the chair while he was shaved. Roger is furious as he had a tantrum at the barber's and threatens that if 'Charles' does not stop crying, he will cane him. Charlie is too upset to control himself and soils his pants from sheer fright. Roger gets the cane, but Rusty grabs his hand and ends up getting hit several times on the head and back of the knees. She takes Charlie upstairs and puts him to bed, where her little brother confesses his wish that they (Peggy, Rusty and he) could all go home. When Peggy arrives back home and is told what happened, she and Roger have a terrible argument. The result is Rusty being locked in her room on punishment rations for the entire Christmas holidays. At the beginning of the new term, Roger decides to have Rusty board full-time and gives Rusty a letter for the Headmistress explaining the new arrangement. Rusty decides not to hand in this letter and the school believe she is going home as usual on Friday afternoon, before returning on Sunday night, whereas she is actually spending the time at the cabin, where she has smuggled her tools and is rebuilding the furniture and painting designs and stencils.
Rusty has no friends, is rapidly losing weight under the strict school rations and the fact that other girls often put stones into her food. Her weight loss is made worse because at weekends she can't bring much food, and is surviving on tiny amounts. Her American friend Lance returns and tells her that he has been accepted by other boys in school because of his ability to run, letting him join his house rugby team and generally he is far happier. Rusty, hurt, tells him she doesn't wish to be friends any more. Feeling abandoned by everyone and longing for her American family, she plans to run away - just before the scaffolding is taken down which would trap her inside the school with no escape route on weekdays. She gets a train to the south coast before trying to get a ticket back to America to rejoin her foster family. This fails and she instead makes her way to Beattie's old house and is found by Beth.
Peggy goes to the school after Rusty is discovered missing, and is devastated to discover how miserable her daughter was. Lance and his House Master arrive and explain about what they think Rusty has done as well as about the cabin in the woods, and Peggy is stunned by her daughter's talent. When Rusty is brought back to school, there is a furious scene where Peggy asks why Rusty was allowed to get so thin, and so miserable that she was climbing down four floors, and why the bullying was allowed to get so bad. The school expels Rusty for being alone with a boy, believing Rusty and Lance had been sexually involved. Roger wants to send her to a strict convent school but Peggy finally stands up for her and Charlie, reclaiming the tools and leaving her husband for Devonshire and freedom. In the final chapter Peggy is given a job as a mechanic, which allows her children to study at the local school. Charlie is back to normal and Rusty is regaining her personality. Accepting that she has a family, one that loves her for who she is, she reaches out to another lonely girl and the future finally looks hopeful.
Characters
Virginia 'Rusty' Dickinson Evacuated from Britain at age 7 as a timid and shy child, 12-year-old Rusty returns as a confident and very American teenager. During her evacuation she stayed in Connecticut with the lively Omsk family, who encouraged her talents and belief in herself, drawing her out of her shell. Rusty loves bright colours, arts and music- she has especially talent at woodwork and stencil crafts which she was taught by 'Aunt' Hannah Omsk. Initially unhappy on her return to England, Rusty finds friends in Beth & Beattie Langley and refuses to alter her character in order to fit in with the hidebound English girls. Rusty can be considered brave, outspoken, creative and passionate.
Peggy Dickinson Forced to evacuate her little daughter during the war, Peggy joined the WVS and become a stronger woman through it with a talent for vehicle mechanics. Before her marriage Peggy lived with her parents and after her marriage she lived with her husband and mother in law. Peggy is a good example of how British women's roles changed during the war, moving into jobs traditionally held by men and often the sole breadwinner for their family because of being widowed or husbands being away fighting.
Charlie Dickinson Born while his father was away fighting, Charlie is in the sole care of his mother in Devon until the family move back to London. Much like Virginia, Charlie has red hair and likes music although he initially doesn't like his sister as he is not used to sharing his mother. He had a father figure in his mother's American GI friend Uncle Harvey, whom he adored, and carries his teddy bear with his everywhere.
Roger Dickinson A traditional upper middle class Englishman, Roger has spent the past few years away fighting and returns to discover his wife is self-sufficient, his daughter very Americanised and his son 'namby-pamby and tied to his mother's apron strings', although failing to see that he is also tied to his own mother. Roger is not deliberately unkind or unfeeling, but has trouble adjusting to the changes in his family and to the altered England he returns to.
Grandmother A domineering and hidebound woman, Grandmother is the opposite of Beattie Langley, who has become a mother figure to Peggy. Refusing to contribute to the war effort, she has preserved her house entirely as it was before the war and is displeased with her grandchildren and daughter in law. Rusty often clashes with her, saying that "you are always bitching about someone or other in your sugary voice". Has a bad habit of taking the phone off the hook.
The Honourable Beattie Langley The Devon landlady of Peggy and Charlie, Beattie is a warm and welcome presence in the story. Kind, perceptive and generous, Beattie gave away all of her curtains and many possessions to help the war effort - material was in short supply - and happily shared her rambling and leaky-roofed house with several women who were in the forces. Beattie, while never openly saying so, clearly knows about Peggy's home situation and after her death she leaves Peggy her house on condition that Peggy can't sell for 17 years nor can the house be held in a man's name, thus giving Peggy a way to escape her marriage if she wants to. Beattie shows how some people adjusted well with proper British spirit to the trials of war. She dies of her "ruddy indigestion" which may either have been an ulcer or stomach cancer.
Lance A fellow sea evacuee of Rusty's, Lance attends the boys' school near Rusty's and is also ostracised for his American accent and behaviour. He provides Rusty with a friend as he sneaks out to meet her in their Cabin in the woods, admires her talent with handicrafts and they help each other with their schoolwork. Lance's parents are getting divorced and to escape the house he goes for long runs in the holidays which leads to him joining the school rugby team and being accepted by other students.
Minor Characters
Beth a local Devon girl who becomes friends with Rusty
Ivy The other resident in Beattie's house, Ivy has a little girl of Charlie's age and her husband is Missing Believed Killed. Ivy marries an American GI who was a friend of Uncle Harvey but during the novel her husband is found in a POW camp, making this marriage void, despite Ivy being heavily pregnant with her new husband's child. This was a situation that did happen quite often during the war, when one partner was presumed dead and their spouse moved on, only to discover that they were alive years later and that their new union wasn't lawful.
Uncle Harvey Never seen as he has returned to America, Harvey was a good friend to Peggy and father figure to Charlie who continues to mention him through the book. Married with his wife back home in the USA, Harvey and Peggy enjoyed spending time together although Peggy denies, as does Beattie, that there was anything wrong with their relationship and that they were not lovers.
Aunt Hannah and Uncle Bruno Omsk The host family of Rusty, the Omsk's took on their roles as parents to her but always made sure she never called them Mummy or Daddy. Encouraging, kind and reasonable, the Omsks were creative and practical people who continue to send Rusty letters and presents and also correspond with Peggy to help Rusty adjust back to family life in Britain.
Adaptations
In 1990 the novel was adapted to a television film, directed by Piers Haggard and produced by TVS Television Network and the Walt Disney Company starring, Hayley Mills as Mrs. Peggy Dickinson, Hayley Carr as Virginia "Rusty" Dickinson, Adam Stevenson as Charles "Charlie" Dickinson, Brenda Bruce as The Honourable Lady Beatrice "Beattie" Langley, Jean Anderson as Grandmother Dickinson and Rupert Frazer as Mr. Roger Dickinson.[1]
In 2001, a feature film was also made.